Why do Americans hate America?After some hand-wringing over British citizens who have chosen to fight with ISIS, Prime Minister David Cameron said he thinks one reason for the defection is that too many of the defectors have forgotten what it means to be British. As a means of fighting the radicalization of young people, he wants all of Britain’s schools to again teach “British values.” It is a diagnosis Americans would do well to consider because an unknown number of Amer...

Late-talking childrenAnyone who knows what anxiety, and sometimes anguish, parents go through when they have a child who is still not talking at age two, three or even four, can appreciate what a blessing it can be to have someone who can tell them what to do -- and what not to do. That someone is Professor Stephen Camarata of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, whose recently published book, “Late-Talking Children” gives parents information and advice that ...

How not to get your country backThe tea party mantra, “I want my country back,” resonates with many. The racial undertones can be ugly (as well as pointless). But the longing for an economically secure America centered on a strong middle class is on point and widely shared. Older and mostly white members of the far right tend to see themselves as model Americans who worked hard, saved up and played by the rules. They may have done all the above, but many also have no idea of...

Rethinking a Unified RJHSI would like to apologize to the kids at RJHS. I am sorry that I didn’t speak up more or come to the school board meeting and talk against combining the East and West programs. I did contact a few board members and some were semi-sympathetic but all caved in under the pressure when it came time to vote. I’m sorry for you guys and gals that would have played on a varsity team this year but are now riding the bench. Same for volleyball, basketba...

Alcohol fight focuses on local controlLITTLE ROCK — Near Arkansas’ state Capitol, a billboard erected by opponents of a ballot measure to legalize alcohol sales statewide doesn’t warn voters about potential dangers of expanded drinking. Instead, it tells them to vote to “keep tax dollars here.” The sign shows the dilemma opponents of the alcohol measure face as they near the November election: How do you win support from voters in a state where beer, wine and liquor are no longer ...

Commission tackling high cost of college athleticsEven the reform-minded Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics doesn’t seem to know what to do about the march toward professionalism in major college sports programs. The commission met last week and, according to a commission news release, vowed to “intensify its efforts to promote changes that better align athletic programs with institutions’ educational missions.” But no consensus or recommendations came out of the meeting, except a...

Police say woman used wheelchair cart for getawayPolice in Michigan said they arrested a shoplifting suspect following her slow-speed getaway in a $1,200 motorized wheelchair shopping cart taken from a Wal-Mart. The Muskegon Chronicle reported police located Shirley Mason, 46, about 2 miles away, riding the cart with $600 in clothing. A customer called police Monday night to report someone riding a shopping cart from the lot at the store in Muskegon County’s Fruitport Township. Police said M...

Weird sports rulesOne of the main barriers to football are the rules. There’s just so many of them that newcomers to the sport often feel overwhelmed or confused when a flag is thrown. There are rules and scenarios that so rarely come up that diehard fans usually don’t know them, so imagine being uninitiated and trying to keep up. Here are a few of the weird ones. Note: Some of these may only apply to the National Football League (NFL). The fair catch kick We’v...

20 years of AmericorpsLITTLE ROCK — Every day, you can witness Arkansas’ volunteer spirit in action. You may see individuals, families and groups who show up to lend a hand at the site of a natural disaster. There are many in our communities who take the initiative and give their own time and resources to start programs that help make our hometowns better places to live. Ginger and I see it all the time among all the nonprofit organizations that hold events at the ...

Register to vote by Oct. 5We are rapidly approaching an important deadline in Arkansas. Oct. 5 is the last day you can register to vote and still cast a ballot in the November general election. Because the deadline this year falls on a Sunday, the Secretary of State’s Office will continue to accept applications the following business day. The Secretary of State’s Office reported 1.6 million Arkansans are currently registered. That leaves over a half million adults in o...

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Arkansas House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Obama takes big risk with airstrikesWASHINGTON — For a president criticized as overly cautious and reluctant to lead, Barack Obama is taking a huge risk. He is thrusting U.S. fighting forces into a growing military operation with clear dangers, unknown costs, an indefinite length and unpredictable consequences. After years of resistance, the president who wanted to end America’s wars will now oversee a sweeping airstrike campaign in both Iraq and Syria, a country mired in an int...

Cheap politiciansThe recent bribery convictions of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife are only the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of convictions of government officials. A little item on the Internet featured government officials in prison, either currently or in recent times. Among them were a mayor of New Orleans, a mayor of Detroit and a mayor of Washington; a governor of Connecticut, a governor of Louisiana, two governors of Ill...

Make your dreams come trueWe have all heard the old saying, “You must have a dream before you can have a dream come true.” While this is certainly a true statement, it is important to understand where dreams come from and why most are never realized. To be sure, dreams are created in the mind, but the major problem in achieving them is that they are never committed to paper, and a definite plan developed to make them a reality. It is vitally important to understand onc...

So long ago, and yet so nearAccording to a Gallup Poll released this week, “Americans’ trust in the federal government to handle international problems has fallen to a record-low 43 percent, ... Separately, 40 percent of Americans say they have a ‘great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of trust in the federal government to handle domestic problems, also the lowest Gallup has measured to date.” (Poll conducted September 4-7, 2014, with 1,017 adults, 95 percent confidence level, +/-...

Coalition building can be trickyWASHINGTON — The first President Bush had one, so did President Bill Clinton, and the second President Bush had two. Now, President Barack Obama wants to build a coalition of nations to join the U.S. to combat the threat posed by the Islamic State group in the Middle East and beyond. The diplomacy of coalition building is time-consuming, and questions about who can or should join are often messy. And in this situation it is complicated by the ...

A drugstore quits cigarettesCVS Pharmacy, a national drugstore chain, stopped selling cigarettes last week. This was big news because it was so unusual. And if anyone is wondering why the United States is spending far too much money paying for health care that isn’t making Americans healthier — those first two sentences should help explain it. The chain is rebranding itself as “CVS Health” as it empties its shelves of the tobacco products that contribute to one in five A...

Arkansas voters could face five ballot issuesArkansas voters will apparently face five ballot issues in the Nov. 4 general election. That’s apparently because a lawsuit has been filed questioning the legitimacy of one issue, and its outcome could affect another. Let’s deal first with the three issues most certain to be on the ballot. Issue No. 1 came from Senate Joint Resolution 7, titled “An amendment to the Arkansas Constitution providing that administrative rules promulgated by state ...

Dems turn up focus on minimum wage issueLITTLE ROCK — With no organized opposition and business groups taking a pass on the issue, the proposal to gradually raise Arkansas’ minimum wage faces a potentially easy path to victory now that it’s on the November ballot. Whether that fortune can rub off on a Democratic Party that faces anything but an easy road is another matter. The proposed initiated act’s approval for the ballot last week hands Democrats an issue that they hope to trump...

Surgery on ailing Great Dane yields 43 socksA 3-year-old Great Dane was miserable and retching when its owners rushed him to a northwest Portland emergency animal hospital. It was something he ate! X-rays showed a stomach full of “a large quantity of foreign material.” Nearly two hours of surgery later, Dr. Ashley Magee had the answer — the dog had consumed over 43 socks. DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital spokeswoman Shawna Harch said it’s perhaps the strangest case in the hospital’s ...